Siddur Tefilla me-ha-Arizal mi-Kol ha-Shanah (Order of Prayer for the Entire Year According to Rabbi Isaac Luria), Yampol (Ukraine). Scribe: Moses ben Joseph of Luboml, 1750

Written by Moses ben Joseph of Luboml in 1750; Israel ben Eliezer Ba'al Shem Tov (Besh"t); While the recorded testimony of the direct heirs of the Ba'al Shem Tov as well as the family traditions of succeeding generations of the Twersky family agree that the prayer book's original owner was Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer Ba'al Shem Tov, thereafter the provenance histories diverge.

The first (as recorded in Emunat Zaddikim by Isaac Dov Ber ben Zvi Hirsch) maintains that the manuscript passed by descent from the Ba'al Shem Tov to his son Rabbi Tzvi of Pinsk; by descent to his son, Rabbi Israel Shotek (the Silent) of Yarovitsch (grandson of the Besh"t); by direct bequest to Rabbi Mordecai Twersky of Chernobyl (1770-1837);

The second indicates (based on the inscription on f.69r) that the prayer book was given by the Ba'al Shem Tov to his disciple and pupil, Rabbi Menahem Nahum Twersky of Chernobyl; by descent to Rabbi Mordecai Twersky of Chernobyl (1770-1837);

Then by descent to Rabbi Isaac Twersky of Skvira (1886-1978); purchased from his son Mordecai in 1976 by the father of the present owner; and by descent to the present owner.

Ha-Rav Tzvi Yechezkel Mikhelsohn, "Dem Ba'al Shem Tov's Siddur," in Das Iddische Vort (Yiddish), Sivan-Tammuz  2011, p.34;

Ha-Rav Yishai Cohen, "Sidduro shel ha-Besh"t ha-Kadosh: Ashkenaz o Sefarad?"  in Kulmus, no. 39 (Hebrew), Tammuz  2006, pp. 22-23.

Katalog Ta'arukhat he-Hasidut: bi-Mlo'ot Maatayim Shanah le-Histalkut Rabi Yisrael Ba'al Shem Tov ZaTZaL (Hebrew), Tel Aviv: 1960, # 56;  

Emunat Zaddikim, Chaim Avraham Deitschman, ed. Warsaw: 1900, pp.82-83;

The present manuscript, written in Yampol (Ukraine) by Moses ben Joseph of Luboml, in 1750, is an exceptionally rare example of a kabbalistic siddur (prayerbook) that was used by the first generation of hasidic masters. It includes the  autograph glosses of Rabbi Mordecai Twersky of Chernobyl, and is presumed to have been a personal prayer book of the founder of hasidism, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (known as the Ba'al Shem Tov or by the acronym Besh"t), and used by him in the decade before his death in 1760. The present lot is one of only two existing prayerbooks associated with, and believed to have been in the possession of, the Ba'al Shem Tov.

Containing the esoteric teachings and mystical kavvanot (intentions) of Rabbi Isaac Luria (known as the ARI), the manuscript is written in a particularly handsome script and was meticulously copied by an expert scribe long before the first printed editions of such hasidic siddurim would become widely available. The scribe, Moses ben Joseph of Luboml is only known to have penned one other work, a copy of Haim Vital's Pri Etz Hayyim,  for Rabbi Ezekiel Landau, the famous Noda B'Yehudah. The skill of the scribe, the quality of the calligraphy, and the methodical and systematic arrangement of the texts all indicate that the present prayer book was almost certainly created for one of the very few select luminaries of early hasidism.

According to Rabbi Israel Shotek, (the grandson of the Besh"t), the siddur was inherited from Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer by his son, Rabbi Tzvi of Pinsk, then to his son, Rabbi Israel Shotek, who immediately before his death, bequeathed it to Rabbi Mordechai (Mottel) Twersky of Chernobyl. This chain of transmission is attested to in several written histories. However, an alternative tradition (supported by the inscription found on f.69r) has the siddur being gifted to Menachem Nachum, the first Maggid of Chernobyl and father of Mordechai, directly by his teacher, the Ba'al Shem Tov. By both accounts, the siddur remained in the hands of the descendants of Menachem Nachum for the next two centuries.

This siddur is not only an irreplaceable early witness to the customs and traditions of the first generations of the hasidic movement. It is also a direct and inexorable link to the luminaries who inspired and created the hasidic dynasties that have been an integral part of the development of the Jewish faith ever since.

The siddur has been publicly exhibited only one time, at the special exhibition on hasidism held in Tel Aviv in 1960, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the death of the Ba'al Shem Tov, where it was one of the most important objects on display.

The only other manuscript prayer book that has been directly associated to the Ba'al Shem Tov as has the present lot, is housed in the Library of Agudas Chassidei Chabad in Brooklyn, NY. In an article describing that prayerbook, Rabbi Tzvi Yechezkel Mikhelsohn describes the way in which the Ba'al Shem Tov would ask his most favored disciples to inscribe their names and their specific requests for his prayers in his (the Besh"t's) siddur and cites several examples. In the present siddur as well, the name of Rabbi Menachem Nachum is inserted at the point of the Avot blessings in the Amidah prayer (an appropriate placement, in light of the nature of the request for male children and length of days). A fascinating and well-known feature of the Lubavitch "Siddur ha-Besht" is the appearance within the High Holy Day liturgy, of a tear-stained page, ostensibly, by the tears of the founder of Hasidism himself. Here too, in the "Siddur ha-Besht" of the Chernobyl dynasty, in the midst of the Yom Kippur service, centuries-old  tearstains bear silent testimony to the emotion and intense devotion generated by the words of the solemn confession of vidui (ff. 179r-180v).

In addition, in the published notes of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, comparing the two prayerbooks, there are several instances where the nusach of the present manuscript is shown to be a more accurate reflection of the authentic Nusach ha-Ari which is widely acknowledged to have been the preferred nusach of the Baal Shem Tov and which remains the mainstay of hasidic prayer to this day.  According to an accompanying letter by Rabbi Alter Elisha Feksher, the director of Makhon Siftei-Tzaddikim, the inclusion of these nuschaot and traditions, unique to the Ba'al Shem Tov and his school, further support the longstanding attribution of this siddur as the selfsame volume from which Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the Holy Ba'al Shem Tov, prayed.

ILLUSTRATIONS: Title in large cross-hatched letters; chronogram and localization within an elegant cartouche in a quarter page decorative panel featuring  a stag and a unicorn with scrolling vinework and floral motifs; ff. 30r, 85r: a menorah comprising text of Psalm 67; a different menorah on f.85v; ff. 86v, 87r, and especially f. 95r. depictions of Shabbat tables; ff. 88v, 95r: flowers; f. 104r: preening bird; f. 133v, a fish; f. 134r, decorative frames comprising arches and flowers; f. 194v, arba'ah minim; f. 202r, a winged shofar. In addition, there are dozens of very small and delicately-drawn decorative tailpieces and floral flourishes, ff. 40v, 55r, 58r, 61v, 68r, 82r, 88v, 89r, 92v, 93r, 95r, 103v, 104r, 106r, 107r, 110r, 120v, 122r, 131r, 132v, 133rv, 138r, 141v, 142rv, 144rv, 145v, 146rv, 149r, 148v, 157r, 164rv, 172r, 193v, 194v, 200r, 202r.

SIGNATURES: f.69r, Menahem Nahum ben Malka, founder of the Chernobyl Hasidic dynasty (1730-1798); first front (modern) free endpaper, Isaac Twersky of Skvira (1886-1978); f. 82r, Abraham ben Shmuel Leib (perhaps Friedler, author of Za'akat Shever, Ofen:1836).

CONTENTS: A comprehensive table of contents precedes the numbered folios of the siddur; a copy of the table of contents is available on request.

Sotheby's would like to thank Dr. Joshua Mondschein, former manuscript researcher at the Jewish National and University Library for providing information that assisted with the cataloging of this lot. The text of his conclusions is available upon request.

The following supporting documentation is available upon request from the department:

1)     Complete genealogical chart of the Twersky family rabbinic dynasty;
2)      Table of Contents of the siddur;
3)     Letter of Rabbi Alter Elisha Feksher, director of Makhon Siftei-Tzaddikim, regarding the nusach of the siddur;
4)     Letter from Dr. Joshua Mondschein, identifying the handwriting of Rabbi Mordechai (Mottel) of Chernobyl.
5)     Published notes of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, comparing the present siddur to the Siddur ha-Besht in the Chabad Library,
6)     Katalog Ta'arukhat he-Hasidut: bi-Mlo'ot Maatayim Shanah le-Histalkut Rabi Yisrael Ba'al Shem Tov ZaTZaL
7)     Ha-Rav Tzvi Yechezkel Mikhelsohn, "Dem Ba'al Shem Tov's Siddur";
8)     Ha-Rav Yishai Cohen, "Sidduro shel ha-Besh"t ha-Kadosh: Ashkenaz o Sefarad?"
9)     Emunat Zaddikim, Chaim Avraham Deitschman, ed. Warsaw: 1900, pp.82-83;